Chef Peter Berley Savors Soup Season

A visit to chef Peter Berley's Long Island, N.Y., kitchen, where winter means a pot bubbling on the stove and a fire in the wood-burning oven

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Bright ceramics appear throughout the kitchen. Mr. Berley's wife designed the tiles on the wood-burning oven. | He forgoes expensive copper pans in favor of workhorses in cast-iron and stainless steel. | The maple John Boos & Co. baker's table is used for food preparation as well as dining.
Brian W. Ferry for The Wall Street Journal

Jan. 17, 2014 2:59 p.m. ET

THOUGH HE HAS been anointed the king of "flexitarianism"—the term for eating a plant-based diet most, but not all, of the time—since the 2007 publication of his cookbook on the topic, Peter Berley doesn't like labels. "I never particularly identified with the word," Mr. Berley said. "I'm not a 'flexitarian' or an 'omnivore' or a 'pescetarian' cook. I'm just a cook. But in publishing, you have to name things."

"The Flexitarian Table," published by Rux Martin/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, comes out in paperback in March, and is bound to send the term back into rotation. For Mr. Berley it's about balance, on his table and in his career. In the summer, he works as a private chef. "During that time, I'm cooking for a lot of people, plating formally and working out new ideas," he explained. The rest of the year, he teaches private classes focused on baking and fermenting. "I call it my North Fork Kitchen & Garden and I've developed a really nice community around that," he added.

Photos: Cooking With Chef Peter Berley

Click to view slideshow Brian W. Ferry for The Wall Street Journal

Mr. Berley shares his home in South Jamesport, N.Y., with his wife, Meg, and daughters Kayla Jo, 30, and Emma Jean, 28, when they visit. When he is not cooking or teaching, he's likely at the computer, mentoring subscribers to his class, "Building Flavorful Soups," on the online education site Craftsy (craftsy.com). We spoke to him about the secrets of good soup, cooking through Long Island winters and the way his kitchen extends into the surrounding landscape.

I like to think of my kitchen as: my workshop. It's a big, open studio. In the center is a maple John Boos & Co. baker's table—my playground. It's like a ginormous cutting board, and I use it for doing everything from preparing foods to making dough to dining. It seats 12 to 14 people comfortably.

The first thing people notice about my kitchen is: that it's alive. It's a bright, open, beautiful, warm, sky-lit space. There's a lot of wood. The counters are butcher block, so there are plenty of surfaces to cut on. At one end is a wood-burning oven. I built it with two masons; I just basically assisted while they constructed it. My wife designed the beautiful tile pattern on the face of it. Cooking with wood has been a life-changer. The flavors are real vivid.

The cookbooks I always turn to include: "Tartine Bread" by Chad Robertson. Chad has managed to capture the romance of traditional French sourdough in a modern context. "The Zuni Café Cookbook" by Judy Rodgers is brilliant. I adore the depth, richness and complexity of her palate and the delight that she took in descriptive food prose. "Lean Years, Happy Years" by Angelo Pelligrini—there's nobody like him, so much passion. And any book that puts food and cooking into historical context. Right now I am enjoying "Van Gogh's Table" by Alexandra Leaf and Fred Leeman.

My favorite ingredients are: anything growing in my garden; the kitchen opens onto it. I have a kimchee bed with napa cabbage, onions, garlic, carrots, chilies. I also have a mirepoix bed—carrots, celery, onions and a few herbs. Tomatoes, of course. And cruciferous vegetables like broccoli, kale and collard greens. The Peconic Bay is right down the street. I get all my seaweed there, and we go clamming and fishing. Then I have these great farms around me.

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HOT SPOT | The wood-burning oven is the heart of the kitchen. 'The quality of the food is really different,' Mr. Berley said. 'You have a relationship with the heat source, whereas with gas and electric you do not create the heat. That's the utility company.'
Brian W. Ferry for The Wall Street Journal

At this time of year, I'm really into: pickling and fermenting vegetables. Living here has changed cooking for me. It's about working with seasonal ingredients and preserving food a lot more.

In terms of tools, I like: as few as possible. I'm not interested in having a lot of machines in my kitchen. The one thing I use all the time that's electric is my grain mill for grinding flour.

I always keep on hand: sea salts. Unpasteurized soy sauce. I always have fresh flour. Always. Extra-virgin olive oil. Good butter. Whole seed spices. I always have some kind of stock in my freezer—chicken, duck, fish, shellfish. I'm very, very attached to my raw milk. It's just so good. Yogurt is important, and good cheeses, too.

I'm constantly reaching for: cast-iron Dutch ovens and griddles. Stainless steel anything. I love woks for deep-frying, because you don't need as much oil. And then I have a nice enamel-coated Le Creuset. I'm way into my pressure cooker. I don't have anything really fancy like copper—it is great, but just so expensive.

The key to making good soup is: having good ingredients. Then there's tradition, technique and practice. My course on soup is about creating broth and stock; then, how to build on the character of those to make the final soup. I talk about how to find umami. Anything that has shellfish in it—a lobster shell, shrimp shell, clam broth—any of those things create intense umami experience. Bonito, soy sauce, kombu, seaweed and bones that are roasted and simmered for a long time. And then there are fermented foods. Where there's umami, there is heightened, brightened flavor. It's like going to Technicolor from something that's dull and muted.

1. Make honey-crisped walnuts: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a small baking dish or pie plate with butter. Add walnuts to pan and drizzle evenly with honey. Roast walnuts, stirring every 5 minutes, until golden brown, about 14 minutes. Transfer nuts to a plate, season lightly with salt and let cool.

2. Make soup: Heat oil and butter in a heavy, lidded 4- to 5-quart saucepan or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add onions, garlic, ginger and salt to pan, stir well, cover and simmer over medium-low heat until garlic and onions are soft, 15-20 minutes.

4. Reduce heat to low and simmer until vegetables are very tender, 30-40 minutes. Add crème fraîche and simmer 3-4 minutes. Use an immersion blender (or, working in batches, a food processor or stand blender) to purée soup until smooth. Season with salt and black pepper. Garnish with honey-crisped walnuts, parsley and crème fraîche.

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